From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 25 04:53:16 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0E21716A49E for ; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:53:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nick@nickwithers.com) Received: from mail.nickwithers.com (mail.manrags.com [203.219.206.74]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4089B43D58 for ; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:53:15 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from nick@nickwithers.com) Received: from localhost (shmick.shmon.net [10.0.0.252]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.nickwithers.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id E2BEC3A9C5; Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:53:05 +1000 (EST) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:53:05 +1000 From: Nick Withers To: "Marc G. Fournier" Message-Id: <20060625145305.1bf8cdcc.nick@nickwithers.com> In-Reply-To: <20060625013213.R1114@ganymede.hub.org> References: <20060624215742.N1114@ganymede.hub.org> <20060625142143.d4af970a.nick@nickwithers.com> <20060625013213.R1114@ganymede.hub.org> Organization: nickwithers.com X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 2.2.6 (GTK+ 2.8.19; i386-portbld-freebsd6.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-nickwithers-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-nickwithers-MailScanner-From: nick@nickwithers.com Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Opinions Wanted: Dell PowerEdge Servers ... ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 04:53:16 -0000 On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 01:34:45 -0300 (ADT) "Marc G. Fournier" wrote: > On Sun, 25 Jun 2006, Nick Withers wrote: > > > I tend to think of Dell as a low-end provider that will cobble together > > systems based on whatever bits happen to be lying around (don't think > > that one PE 2650 is the same as the next!), which in turn are invariably > > the cheapest bits available for a particular job. > > 'k, this is exactly the thing that I'd heard about the Desktops ... and > was curious about concerning their server offering ... you mention further > up in your response that this was 'a little while back' ... how long ago, Around 2004 was when I got my hands the dirtiest with the things. This was towards the end of the Dell PowerEdge 2650 run (I think 2850s are still current...?). > and can anyone here comment on whether or not this is still the case with > Dell? I think Dell's "low-cost at all costs" policy is pretty well the foundation for the business... > Pricing things out through the web sites, Dell is definitely the 'cheaper > brand', at least in comparison to HP ... so will I end up "getting what I > paid for" with the cheaper Dell, and regretting it, or ... ? :( Always a risk, isn't it? To be honest, I'd probably consider the PowerEdge 2650 fine for my use at home, but I wouldn't be using the remote access controller at all and would almost certainly be using FreeBSD, for which there isn't a version of OpenManage, to my knowledge. As for your usage scenario I can't say, but if it's going to be at a colocation facility and you're going to be accessing it through whatever they're calling their ERAs at the moment... I'd think twice. But heck, I haven't checked up on what the price difference might be between a Dell and an equivalent from a competitor, and I'm not at all up-to-date on current Dell offerings. > ---- > Marc G. Fournier Hub.Org Networking Services (http://www.hub.org) > Email . scrappy@hub.org MSN . scrappy@hub.org > Yahoo . yscrappy Skype: hub.org ICQ . 7615664 -- Nick Withers email: nick@nickwithers.com Web: http://www.nickwithers.com Mobile: +61 414 397 446